BELL RINGERS Woman remembers when Salvation Army helped family

As shoppers hustle from car to store this holiday season, the Salvation Army bell ringers will wait outside next to their red kettles. The charity’s leaders hope they stay.

Lorraine Fries, 42, of Greeley stood next to a kettle Tuesday afternoon in front of the downtown Greeley Post Office, 925 11th Ave. Bundled against the cold, she leaned against a metal railing and rattled a little white bell.

“You have a nice day, Hon,” she said to the dozens of people who hurried past.

Years ago, the Salvation Army helped Fries feed her two young sons. It’s not easy to accept charity, she said, but sometimes there isn’t any other choice. “You got to take your pride and stick it on the shelf when you have children.”

If Fries, a paid employee, lasts through the season, she’ll be one of the few. Bell ringers become scarce toward the middle and end of the campaign when the blowing snow makes hours on the street especially unappealing. Capt. Paul Belcher said he started out with 60 workers last year in Denver and finished with 15 at the end of the campaign.

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The Salvation Army depends on a mixture of paid employees and volunteers to operate the five-week campaign. Belcher, now running the Greeley office, said the organization needs volunteers throughout the season and hopes people will continue to sign up. In Greeley and Windsor, ringers work four-hour shifts — double shifts if they want to — to keep the bells clanging 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday outside retailers and government buildings.

Fries said she’ll try to finish out the campaign. Wearing Carhartt overalls over jeans and a sweatshirt with two, gloved hands sticking out of a brown overcoat, she said she could bear the cold. “I have to be honest, though, if I get another job that pays better than $6.50 an hour and it’s inside …”

The Red Kettle Campaign is critical to the Salvation Army’s operations. Of Belcher’s $400,000 budget, he said as much as a third will come from the kettles. About 20-25 percent of the total donations will pay the operating costs of the campaign and the rest will fund services in Weld County, including food and assistance.

Those services mean a lot for people who struggle to support their families, Fries said. She remembered digging ditches and tearing the roofs off houses, anything to take care of her boys and stay out of the system.

“If everybody that walks in here, or everybody that buys a lottery ticket, put that money in here,” Fries said pointing to her kettle, “I don’t think we’d have as much of a problem.”

With a couple of hours left in Fries’ eight-hour shift, the shadow of the post office stretched over her head and onto the sidewalk. She said the weather wasn’t too harsh Tuesday, but she’d heard the wind was supposed to come today. She figured that might discourage a lot of ringers.

Fries had support on Tuesday, however. Ar friend, Rod Norris of Greeley, stopped by with a thermos of hot coffee and a warm burrito.

“Sweet ambrosia,” Fries said, swigging the coffee.

Moments later, a middle-aged man fished a handful of coins out of his pocket and dropped them in the kettle. Fries waved her bell.

“You have a nice day, Hon.”

For more information, to volunteer or to contribute, contact the Salvation Army, 1119 6th St., Greeley, 346-1661.